Following the sale of Idleforde Junction it was decided by the Committee that a new exhibition '00' layout was needed. A group of
members interested in the project got together during late 2006 to plan and design
the new layout.
Bassetfield, the Story so far.
November 2006.
Idleforde Junction has gone now, sold to be exhibited in Spain. Many are
sorry to see it go, it was a good layout and had a successful exhibition
career. What will we play with on Wednesday evenings now.
Unfortunately it had to go because if the threatened move to new rooms
further down the station platform took place Idleforde was too long to
fit in and shortening was deemed too difficult.
Consequently it was decided that the Society should have a new ‘OO’
exhibition layout. But who’s going to design and build it.
December 2006.
Following an informal meeting a group of members has now got together
expressing interest in this project and keen to make a start. Keith
Davis, for his sins, volunteered to be layout manager and will attempt
to co-ordinate activities, somebody’s got to do it.
The Group:
Keith Davis, track laying, electrics, ballasting
Andrew Davis, baseboards, track laying
Richard Barrow, baseboards, track laying, wiring, scenery
Peter Bartrop, baseboards, track laying, wiring, scenery
John Heason, baseboards, wiring,
Steve Brammer, design, wiring, ballasting, scenery, buildings
Tony James, baseboards, wiring, scenery
Bob Elvidge, baseboards,
Keith Austin, track laying, wiring, scenery
Ben Eckersley, wiring, operating
Dave Holmes, baseboards, signalling
John Blenkinsop, baseboards
Alan Petrie, operating, painting
Neil Grayston, wiring, signalling
Jan. 2007.
The layout will not model a specific location but will have a Great
Central theme based in the Sheffield/Chesterfield area. It will be 17
ft. x 8 ft 6 in. or 5.1 metres x 2.55 metres for those who like to think
metric.
A four track main line, with station will be fed from a 16 road fiddle
yard with access to an industrial area and a goods yard.
A provisional track plan, mostly Steve Brammer’s ideas, has been
agreed.
The wood for the baseboards and support legs, to Richard Deas design, a
la Idleforde Junction has been sourced via Phil Lewis and the sawing,
drilling, screwing and gluing is in full swing.
Feb 2007.
What type of control will the layout have. Should it be analogue or
digital or maybe a mixture of both. Plenty of scope for discussion here
and various people feel quite strongly about these matters,
traditionalists versus modernists.
Who would prevail.
Once again a plan evolved which would see the layout initially wired for
DC with DCC coming later.
March 2007.
The layout is still referred to as “the ‘OO’ layout” so it must
be time for it to have a name. The layout manager asked for suggestions
but none were forthcoming and so he christened it Bassetfield.
Track laying is now in progress with Code 100 PECO track and points.
April/May 2007.
There were suggestions for it to be Code 80 but as it is to be a Club
layout and be compatible with members older types of stock and locos,
this was not thought the best choice.
Yet more track laying. Great efforts are being made to get the baseboard
joints aligned for smooth running using soldered copper pins. Test
running will surely show up any problems.
June/July 2007.
Wiring across the baseboard joints is progressing steadily. How many
soldered connections are there, it must be 100’s. The builders
soldering techniques are certainly improving although some have room for
improvement.
August 2007.
Test running has started with temporary track feeds and suddenly there is more interest. In fact its now difficult for the builders to get “possession” of the track as there seems to be always a train passing.
September 2007.
The November exhibition is looming and the Exhibition Manager ( Richard ) whispers in the Layout Manager’s ear. “Could Bassetfield be shown as a part built layout in November.” No pressure then !! But as the four main lines are now running the answer is yes, at whatever stage has been reached.
There can be 16 trains on view for the punters although no scenery of course.
The Layout Manager has built the control box with facility for 6 separate handheld controllers, a mixture of feedback and direct units.
Wiring and control for the down sidings proven now but some scratching of the head has been needed to sort out the up sidings. Layout Manager has “a cunning plan” but will it work.
October 2007.
Cunning plan only partially successful, a compromise is in place for the present.
Progress on wiring has slowed due to the need for test running ready for the debut of the layout in its ‘ under construction ‘ status.
November 2007.
Limited operator training is in progress in readiness for layouts public debut.
Layout manager has drawn up a rota of members of the ’00’ group who want to have a ’go’ at operating the limited facilities available at present on the layout.
No doubt the ’rivet counters’ will be out in force at the exhibition as it is not planned to run prototypically at this stage.
The exhibition appearance revealed what should have been obvious, that solidly laid track must have expansion joints, witness the wavy track fiddle yard.
Retford Town Hall is much warmer than the Clubrooms.
Layout manager has accepted defeat on his ‘cunning plan’ for the up sidings and has re-wired and extended them, providing separate control with a dedicated controller.
December 2007.
Wiring of points is now in full swing, roughly half of the ballasting completed, almost magically buildings are appearing and the lock together with a boat is ready, courtesy Tony James.
January 2008.
Points wiring on scenic section now complete and after some head scratching and point motor adjustments satisfactory operation has been achieved at last.
Up sidings section isolations wired and working, much to some peoples surprise.
Of course the fiddle yards haven’t been tackled electrically, so there’s no light at the end of the tunnel yet. Will the layout managers next “cunning plan” be more successful than the last one? We shall see. February 2008.
Ballasting continues, although no-one has felt brave enough to tackle any points yet. A gentle hand will be needed with the
PVA, too little rather than too much.
Its been decided, this stage, to provide auto-selection for the up and down fast tracks in the fiddle yard with manual push button selection for the up and down slow tracks. To run the wiring the fiddle yard boards have been lifted, so only the scenic section is available to “play” with. Or should that be operate.
March 2008.
Layout manager has started wiring the ‘down’ part of the fiddle yard with the local control box although progress is slow.
Following discussions in Committee, the layout is not planned to appear in Nov.
at the exhibition and therefore the pressure is off but will this de-motivate the modellers somewhat. It was felt that to exhibit a half complete layout again would not reflect favourably on the Society.
April 2008.
Wiring for the ‘up’ and ‘down’ sections of the fiddle yard are complete and testing is underway, at last.
Scenic work on the ‘under the arches’ area on the front of the layout is progressing satisfactorily.
July 2008.
The layout manager has taken the bull by the horns and ballasted the points (carefully) and the remaining parts yet to be completed.
August 2008
The scenic break of over bridge, station building and roadway has aquired a platform. A canopy will be needed later, although as the platform is curved this could present a building challenge.
After further head scratching and some trial and error by the layout manager the up and down fast lines in the fiddle yard have been provided with both auto and manual track selection.
November 2008
The layout manager ( he's at it again! ) has wired the down slow lines in the fiddle yard to provide two sections to each track, thus giving the facility to run up to 8 shorter freights or DMU's if required, although operation could be a challenge.
Keith Austin is busy on the right hand end scenic area and 'under the arches'. Peter Bartrop has produced an
over bridge for the right hand scenic break modelled on Babworth Bridge in Retford.
December 2008
Scenic work is proceeding steadily - Tony James and Keith Austin - although the industrial area buildings and
back scene have yet to be decided on and and constructed.
January 2009
All the ballast has now been weathered using the layout managers home-mixed poster paint, brown of course, as it is to be an industrial area.
March 2009
The left hand end boards have been disconnected temporarily so that work on the end can be carried out.
The layout manager is also finishing the wiring to sectionalise the four up slow
lines. It remains to be seen if these tracks will be operated in this mode but at least the facility is available.
The promised colour light signalling is at the planning stage, courtesy of Neil Grayston and Dave Holmes.
April 2009
The layout has been re-instated in readiness for Charter Day when it is to be exhibited. The layout manager has issued a set of operating instructions to potential 'drivers'. Gary Page and Dave Siggar are working on the
backscene.
May 2009
The Clubroom Open Day was used as an opportunity to further test run the layout and did in fact reveal one or two of the dreaded dry joints. Driver (operator) training was also in full swing and demonstrated that further instruction will be required. Have the operators read their operating instructions.
July 2009
The layout manager has designed and built the overhead lighting and, following two modifications, it is has now been fitted and tested.
Perspex panels, to protect the front of the layout from little fingers at exhibitions, have been added.
The layout manager has designed and built the overhead lighting
September 2009
Wooden sections, to protect the various layout boards from damage when in transit, have been produced and test fitted.
October 2009
Neil has built most of the colour light signals and fitted them in position, although as yet they are not wired.
Tony has now completed his buildings on the front but because of the road layout views of his good work will be somewhat hidden.
Dave Sigger and Gary Page are busy fitting lighting to a number of buildings and the layout is gradually becoming populated with figures, vehicles and animals.
The November exhibition draws ever nearer !!!
December 2009
The layout made its exhibition debut in the Town Hall as arranged and was well received by the visitors, performing well all weekend.
In the week prior to this Neil and the layout manager spent a considerable number of hours completing the colour light signalling, the final touches being on the Friday afternoon.
Two days of constant operation, as is often the case, revealed a number of
opportunities for improvements which are to be dealt with in the near future.
Several buildings are still to have lighting installed. (Dave and Gary)
Siding extensions and uncouplers to be fitted. (Layout manager)
March 2010
Layout manager has relaid tracks across the board joints at the left hand entrance to the fiddle yard to rectify running problems which arose at the exhibition.
Station platform lights and road lights have been completed by Dave and Gary.
At this time there are no plans to do further work on the layout as it is felt to be complete.
However no layout is ever said to be finished or beyond improvement and therefore the future awaits. We shall see !!!
The group building this layout meet every Monday and Wednesday
evenings in our clubrooms.
If you find any errors or broken links on these pages or have any comments or questions about the
Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society, please email: richard@deas.net
